


The Past Still Hurts

by icandrawamoth



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View - Various Authors
Genre: Advice, Angst, Backstory, Canon Backstory, Conversations, Fusion of Star Wars Legends and Disney Canon, Gen, Memories, Target Practice, tragic backstories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:48:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28271160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icandrawamoth/pseuds/icandrawamoth
Summary: Wes takes Dak to the shooting range, and it brings up ugly memories for both of them.
Kudos: 2





	The Past Still Hurts

The first time Wes Janson takes Dak to the range and watches him nail the center of the farthest target on the first try, he lets out a delighted, “Ha! Where did you learn to shoot like that?”

Dak drops his suddenly-shaking shooting arm. Memories of Kalist VI crowd in on him, and he forces them back. He’s been doing that since he escaped and joined the Rebels, to varying degrees of success.

“Practice,” he says, and there’s only a little bit of a wobble in his voice. Everything is harder to ignore when he has a blaster in his hand again.

Janson eyes him. They don’t know each other well, but Dak knows he’s easy to read. Finally, though, the older man turns away and takes his own turn. Half a dozen shots come one after the other, all solid hits save for the last, which barely nicks the target Dak has just hit.

Janson grunts. “Can’t win ‘em all. And if you’re too good a shot, they’ll try to transfer you out of a cockpit and into the infantry.”

“No.” The word is out without a thought, and Dak’s lips keep moving. “I can’t do that.”

“Can’t do what? Kill someone?”

Dak blanches. “I signed up to fly.”

“That doesn’t preclude you ending up in a lightfight someday, and you can’t freeze up when you do.” Janson’s gaze is unusually stern. “I’m going to take a guess: once upon a time you had to shoot someone you didn’t want to. Someone who didn’t deserve it.”

If only it were some _one_. Dak bites his lip to keep control as faces flood his mind. Imperials laughed as they trained their own guns on him, forced him to execute people he cared about while they looked at him with terror and pleas. He’ll never forget any of them.

“Every time you look down a sight, you see their face,” Janson goes on, a sudden swirl of darkness and pain in his own eyes betraying the even blows of his words. Dak realizes with a jolt that the other pilot is speaking from experience.

“Here’s the thing, Raltar. You’re not the only one with shit like that in your head. You have to get over it. You have to fight and you have to kill, as long as the Rebellion needs you to.”

“How did you?” Dak breathes, though he has so many other questions.

“Practice.”

With that, Janson turns away and holsters his blaster.

“Are you leaving?” Dak squeaks. “You’ve supposed to be training me.”

“You’re an excellent shot. I can’t teach you the rest.”

Dak watches him go, wondering if it’s because you can’t teach something you haven’t yet learned yourself.


End file.
